If you computer starts to run slowly after visiting a website with a lot of ads, you might have picked up a sneaky Bitcoin miner script. A small piece of software installed on your computer without your knowlegde that uses your CPU power to mine for cryptocurrency mostly Bitcoin. i.e. some is making money off your computer without your knowledge. Bitcoin mining may be profitable only if you are the one doing it. Though if you are being mined through your computer without your knowledge that’s a no-go in my privacy book.
Next question – how to stop the mining? It isn’t about removing anything; it’s about just preventing the use of your machine as you may visit another site and it will try to implant again on your computer again. It is about not allowing the script or “report” to the Bitcoin mothership! So really you just need to stop any script from outsourcing from your computer’s CPU. You can read about the mining here and here. Then there is more about the technical aspect of it here.
The thing to do is to use the following info and make sure you also have your anti-virus and malware software up-to-date. It calls for adding extensions to your browser or for having software to check for cryptojacking scripts on your computer.
If you have the following software and are up-to-date, you probably are covered.
Malwarebytes Professional (paid version not the free one)
Firefox – Adware Plus or UBlock extensions
Chrome – SafeBrowse extension
Mineblock – www.mineblock.org
UMatrix – Linux
Easyprivacy
Kaspersky – detecting and blocking it as malware
Brave Browser – Included by default
Opera Browser – Included by default from Opera 50
To learn and read more about crypto mining, you can read about the mining here and here. Then there is more about the technical aspect of it and the current list of miners here.